Universal Music may negotiation royalty fee for Apple iPods

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The agreement that entitles Universal Music to a fee from each Microsoft Zune player sold looks as though it has set a new precedent that other manufacturers may be forced to follow.

Speaking at the Reuters Media Summit, the CEO of Universal Music, Doug Morris, said he may try to negotiate a similar fee with Apple when the next round of negotiations take place early next year.

"It would be a nice idea."

"We have a negotiation coming up not too far [away]. I don't see why we wouldn't do that ... but maybe not in the same way", he said in response to a question that asked if Universal would try to get a royalty fee for iPods in a similar way that the company does for Zune players.

"The Zune [deal] was an amazingly interesting exercise, to end up with a piece of technology."

Neither Microsoft nor Universal has specified the amount of the royalty payment per Zune.

The deal comes at a time when music companies are trying to find new ways to keep up their revenues in the face of both legal and illegal music downloads.